32th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy

Paris, France July 15-18, 2012

Yefim A. Kogan
M.A. in Jewish Liberal Studies
Researcher
Newton, MA, USA

Estate1 and other categories of Jews in Bessarabia, Russia in the 19th century

Introduction

The first laws concerning the Jews in Bessarabia were issued by the Russian government in
1818. “Regulations of establishing Bessarabia district” required Jews to join one of three estates,
or classes: merchants, petty bourgeois (townsmen, middle class), or farmers. The “Regulations”
stated that “…privilegias (privileges) given to Jews by Moldavian Princes (gospodars), will be
kept in their entirety”, while the existent Russian legislation concerning the Jews did not apply,
since Bessarabia had autonomous status. The regulations even authorized the Bessarabian Jews
to reside in the villages and engage in leasing activities and inn keeping, in contradiction to the
Russian "Jewish Statute" of 1804. The Jews could even buy a piece of empty land for farming.

The main source of information for the research presented in this paper was the primary source
documents – Revizskie Skazki – Revision Lists, the census or family lists to identify families for
taxation and men to draft into the army. Among many other sources used was Jewish
Encyclopedia written by Brochhauz and Efron, Russia, 1908-13.

Estates in Russian Empire in the 19th century

Russian society had many different estates people belonged to. Following is the list of estates to
which Jewish people may belong in the 19th century of Tsarist Russia.

Купцы (Kuptsy) – Merchants. They were owners of factories, plants, businesses, large stores,
etc. From the time of Ekaterina the Great, families who had more than 500 rubles may be part of
merchant estate. The merchants were divided into three guilds by the level of affluence.

Мещане (Meshchane) – Townsmen, Petty Bourgeois, Bourgeois, Tradesmen, Middle

Class. They were owners of small shops, small sales people, peddlers, craftsmen, etc. In some
places artisans were a separate estate, but in Bessarabia they were registered as petty-bourgeois.

Земледельцы (Zemledeltsy) – Farmers, peasants. These are people who worked on the land.
In Bessarabia Jews were allowed to own land too. There were many Jewish agricultural

1
A major political or social group or class. In Russian – Сословие (Soslovie).

1
colonies established in 19 century in Bessarabia and Novo Russia. Sometime these Jews were
named colonists in the government documents, if they lived in one of the 17 colonies in
Bessarabia. In other places there was also a term – Казённые поселяне - Kazyonye pocelyane -
State-Owned Settlers used for farmers.

Бурлаки (Burlaki) – Temporary workers, hard workers, employees, usually in the

Revizskie Skazki burlaki were included at the end of Meshchane (Middle Class) lists, and most
of the time they were single men, but sometimes they were married with children.

Почётные Граждане (Pochyotnye Grakhdane) - Honorary Citizens hereditary or private.

That estate was a thin layer between the nobility and merchants, by which the government tried
to solve the perennial problem - the Russian nobility guard against the penetration of foreign
elements, and at the same time, support and encourage commercial and industrial fiber to meet
their ambitions and promoting trade and business and charitable activities of its most prominent
representatives.

Дворяне (Dvoryane) - Nobility (hereditary, private). A number of Jews in the middle and the
end of the 19th century hold a government position, which automatically allowed them to get
hereditary or private nobility. Though for Jews it was exceptionally hard to get into the public
office and the nobility.

Иностранцы (Inostrantsy) – Foreigners. Foreigners who lived in Russia were under different
set of laws, paying different taxes, and having different rights. Revision Lists had special
sections for Foreigners.

Военные (Voennye) – Military. That estate included the families of active duty personnel, as
well as retired soldiers, and also widows of died soldiers. The Revision Lists had usually
Military records together with the Middle Class records, and it included rank and status of the
person.

Estates of Jews in Bessarabia, statistics

In ‘Revizskie Skazki’ - Revision List records Jews from the different estate were not mixed.
There were different set of records for merchants, middle class, and farmers. Below there are
statistics from Jewish Encyclopedia of Broghauz and Efron, 1908-1913 as well as from Revision
Lists of the middle of the 19th century. I have also used statistical data for the capital of
Kishinev and a shtetl Kaushany, Bendery district from the birth records available for town.

Here is statistics of the estates of the Jewish population in all Russia according to All Russia
Census of 1897:

95.0% belonged to the Middle Class;

1.7% were Merchants;

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 0.15% reached the status of Honorary Citizens (hereditary or private);
2.75% were Farmers.

According to the same census in 1897 in Kishinev lived 50,237 Jews, 46.3% of total population
(108,483).. Estates population of Kishinev according to the census was divided into the
following groups: hereditary and private honorary citizens – 173; farmers – 190; merchants –
1208; middle class - 47,446.

Following three tables provide a view on estates of the Jewish population in the middle of the
19th century.

Table 1 includes merchants, middle class and farmers. The Middle Class are those who paid tax
(bira) and they were divided in two groups, who lived on private land or on town’s land.
Farmers were divided in those who got 10 year privilege or 25 years privilege2.

Uezd (counties, districts) Total

Kishine Bendery Akkerman Soro- Fami
v Orgeev Kagul Khotin Beltsy ki Jews lies
Merchants of 1 Gild 8/1 8 1
Merchants of 2nd Gild 8 /2 2/1 10 3
Merchants of 3rd Gild in 425/ 88/
Kishinev and ports 111 92/14 18 605 143
Merchants of 3rd Gild in 301/ 342/6
uezd towns 82 2 73/15 ? ? ? ? 2150 485
Those who paid tax
(bira) 2 rubles and 86
kopiks and tax of 60
kopiks from family
(Bendery - 6 r. 72 k.) 195 1155/ 264/ 117/ 3339/ 1655/ 2094/
(Middle Class) /111 434 134 52 921 808 703 8819 3223
4244 / 734/ 853/ 902/ 1110/ 2797/ 763/ 698/
Same on the town land 1957 324 /299 268 382 792 352 208 12101 4582

Farmers on 10 years 374/ 537/ 175/ 427/ 987/

privilege 137 626/75 227 93/39 32 167 297 3119 974
Farmers on 25 years 159/ 1168/
privilege 82 131 1327 290

Table 1 Statistics of sstates of Jews in 1850 in districts of Bessarabia

from Brogchauz and Efron, Jewish Encyclopedia, Russia, 1908-1913

2
Privileges included lesser taxes, ability to buy or lease land, not be drafted into the army.

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Table 2 represents data about the Merchants estate taken from the Revision List records of 1848,
1854 and 1859:

town uezd year microfilm Jews families

Bendery Bendery 1848 Merchants 2361557 390 27
Ismail Ismail 1848 Merchants 2361557 124 9
Khotin Khotin 1848 Merchants 2361562
Kiliya Ismail 1848 Merchants 2361559
Orgeev Orgeev 1848 Merchants 2361559

Akkerman Akkerman 1854 Merchants 2373291 188 13

Bendery Bendery 1854 Merchants 2373291 736 56
Kagul Kagul 1854 Merchants 2373292 75 12
Kiliya Ismail 1854 Merchants 2373292 162 14
Kishinev Kishinev 1854 Merchants 2373295 263 34
Orgeev Orgeev 1854 Merchants 2373295 564 70
Soroki Soroki 1854 Merchants 2373295 1000 60

Khotin Khotin 1859 Merchants 2375782 1516 126

Table 2 Merchants from Revision Lists of 1848, 1854 and 1859, Bessarabia

The last table is devoted to one shtetl Kaushany, Bendery district, where 1675 Jews lived at the
end of the 19 century, which was 45 % of total town population.

Data is from birth records from 1866, 1876, 1878 and 1887:
F a t h e r
Total Male Female
Foreign Listed in Listed in other In military Listed in
Citizen other town in Kaushany
Russian gub. Bessarabia
1866 51 32 19 3: 5: 28: 15-Kaushany
2-Moldova3 2-Podolia 10-Kishinev
1-Turkey 2-Kherson 11-Bendery
1-Grodno 5-Akkerman
1-Ataki
1-Khotin

3
Moldova here is the Principality of Moldavia and from 1877 it was part of an independent Romania state.

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1876 57 27 30 4: Moldova 5: 26: 2: 1-in 20-Kaushany
4-Podolia 8-Kishinev reserve society
1-Kherson 15-Bendery
3-Akkerman
1878 68 37 31 9: 6: 32: 1 20-Kaushany
5-Moldova 3-Kherson 15-Kishinev society
1-Holland 1-Taurida 12-Bendery
3-Turkey 2-Kiev 4-Akkerman
1-Brichany
1887 72 40 32 10: 13: 30: 1 17 – Kaushany
6-Turkey 6-Kherson 2-Akkerman society
4-Moldova 1-Kiev 15-Bendery
1-Taurida 12-Kishinev
2-Podolia 1-Orgeev
1-Volyn 1-Pharmacist
1-Minsk
1-Mogilev

Total 248 136 112 26: 29: 116: 4: 1-in 72-Kaushany

15Moldova 8-Podolia 45-Kishinev reserve
10-Turkey 12-Kherson 14-Akkerman 3-active
1-Holland 1-Grodno 1-Ataki
2-Taurida 1-Khotin
1-Volyn 53-Bendery
1-Minsk 1-Brichany
1-Mogilev 1-Orgeev 1-Pharmacist
3-Kiev

It is interesting to note that a large percentage of Jews in that town were registered in other towns
of Bessarabia, or in towns in Russia outside of Bessarabia, or were foreigners. Only 25% of
Jews in Kaushany were registered in Kaushany.

Almost all Jews were part of the Middle Class (Townsmen, Petty Bourgeois). Only 5 fathers of
born children were merchants.

Estates of Jews in Bessarabia, what privileges did these estates grant?

Merchants. By the law of 1835, merchants could go for business outside of the Pale with wife
and children from 6 weeks to 2 months. They could stay longer only by permission of the
government. The Merchants of First Gild could go to any cities, including two capitals without
getting permission. During their stay in these places merchants could have two home servants
from the Jews. In the begging of the 20 century the rules changed and Merchants of the 1st gild
could go outside Pale for 6 months in a year, and 3 months for the 2nd gild.

The rules for the permanent residence outside the Pale for the Merchants of 1st and 2nd gild were
very different. Merchants of the 2nd gild could live in two towns, Nikolaev and Sevastopol,
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which are in the Pale, but where regular Jews were not allowed to live. Merchants of the 1st gild
could live in general anywhere outside the Pale.

Farmers. Jewish agricultural colonies appeared in Bessarabia after a new “Status of Jews” law was
approved on April 13, 1835. The principal goal of the laws was to organize the Jews under the new
regulations and allow them some activities but not others. According to the new status, Jews could
freely cross over into the farmer estate without any restrictions. The new farmers could settle on
crown, purchased, or leased land. Crown lands were set aside for Jews for an unlimited time for their
sole use upon payment of taxes. In addition, in areas without much free crown land, Jews were
permitted to lease or buy lands from private owners that they could select themselves. In this event,
by investing their capital, they joined the rural community and became owners or renters of the land.

It is apparent from archival sources that the majority of settlers in Bessarabia came from
Ukraine, primarily from neighboring Podol province. Most of the Jewish population in
Bessarabia lived in colonies on the private land that was purchased or leased. Almost no crown
land was available in Bessarabia. The total number of Jewish colonies in Bessarabia was 16 (17
in some sources); nine in the Soroki district, two each in the Bel'tsy and Orgeev districts, and
one each in the Bendery, Khotin, and Kishinev districts. By the mid-19th century, Bessarabia
had 1,082 homesteads with 10,589 inhabitants—who eventually returned to their traditional
occupations: commerce, innkeeping, and private trading.

The Jews were involved in agriculture even outside of the agricultural colonies. From the statistical
information collected in 1853 in Kaushany and also in the shtetl Chimishliya, Bendery district 119
Jewish families worked in agriculture. Their estate/status was “gosudarstvennye krestiane” - state
peasants or state farmers. Even after many families were reclassified as Middle Class a number of
Jews in Kaushany continued their work in agriculture, among them were cattle and sheep farmers;
for example in 1849 two Jewish farmers owned approximately one thousand head of cattle and three
thousand sheep and goats.

In the middle of 19th century many Jews were registered as farmers in one or another colony,
actually lived in a large town or city. That happened because of the privileges farmers received
from the government. That included lower taxes and relieve from the conscription. In the face
of these facts, the provincial government finally allowed the Jews to resettle officially in towns
and enter the town communities. By the beginning of the 20th century, almost all of the former
colonists lived in towns.

Burlaki – Temporary workers. Burlaki were hard working labor force, mostly as peasants on
the land in Bessarabia. The Russian word ‘burlak’ means people who were walking on the
beach pulled with twine riverboats upstream, see below the painting of I. Repin. The word also
meant any hard working labor.

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Ilia Efimovich Repin (1844-1930)

Burlaki na Volge –

Volga_Boatmen (1870-1873)

Honorary Citizens (hereditary, private)

Honorary Citizens estate was established for Jews in 1832, and already in 1839 it was added that
promotion of Jews to Honorary Citizenship should be done in rear cases when they help the
Russian Empire a lot. In 1844 in order to better develop agriculture, the Jews who bought a
piece of land and settled on that land 50 Jewish families could get the private Honorary Citizens
after 3 years of the colony, and who settled 100 Jews could get the hereditary Honorary Citizens.
In late 1850s the Jews who were Merchants of 1st Gild for10 years and of 2nd gild for 20 years
could get for Honorary Citizenship, same as any other merchants in Russian Empire.

Jews could apply for the honorary citizenship by the decree of the Emperor. In 1850 "Jewish
scholars in the governors” could apply for the estate, and from 1849 - physicians, pharmacists,
scientists, agronomists, engineers, technologists, veterinarians also could become Honorary
Citizens.

Leyb Moiseevich Tsirelson. Since 1908 Leyb Tsirelson was the spiritual and the official rabbi
of Chisinau (Bessarabia). In 1910 he was elected chairman of the All-Russian rabbinical
committee (Vaad harabonim) and held this position until 1917, when the commission was
disbanded. As the authorized representative of the leadership of Jewish Religious Communities
in Russia he appeal to the authorities on various matters relating to the Jewish population of the
country. In 1911 he published a letter of protest signed by 300 rabbis of the Russian Empire in
connection with the unfolding of Bayliss case4. He received the title of Private Honorary Citizen
of the Russian Empire and the spiritual General.

Leyb Moiseevich Tsirelson Kishinev Town Rabbi – private Honorary Citizen.

From Bessarabia 1914 Annual Book.

4
The Beilis case - the trial on charges of Menahem Mendel Beilis ritual murder of a 12-year-old student preparatory
class of Kiev Theological School Andrew Yushchinsky March 12, 1911. The process took place in Kiev on
September 25 - October 28, 1913, and was accompanied on the one hand, by active anti-Semitic campaign, on the
other - public protests nationwide and worldwide. Beilis was acquitted.

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Leyb Moiseevich Tsirelson Monument to Tsirelson at the cemetery in
Kishinev.

Abraham son of Naum Katlovker (1844-1907, Kishinev), a Jew from Soroca, a teacher, a
secular member of the fifth session of the Rabbinical Commission under the Ministry of Internal
Affairs of the Russian Empire in 1893-1894 years, the official government rabbi and an
hereditary honorary citizen.

Shteinberg Moyshe-Leyb, Hirsh, Ovshiy, Borukh and others in the family were listed in Vital
Records as hereditary honorary citizens.

Nobility (hereditary, private)

In granting the Jews the rights of the public service has not been set any restrictions on the
erection of a hereditary noble estate. But there were many restrictions for the Jews to get into a
public office. Some Jews from 1856 on the basis of the common rules acquired hereditary
nobility with getting into a rank of “действительный статский советник” - Actual Civil
Councilor / Actual State Councilor or by getting the first degree of every Russian Order or all
degree of Order of Saint Vladimir. Some Jews in Russian Empire were entered into the nobility
books. But in the late 19th century many questioned the right of Jews to the noble rank in
general (1834 law prohibited baptized Jews to add into the nobility books). Only in 1900 it was
prohibited to enter Jews into the Nobility Gubernia books, but the ministry started to work on a
question about handling hereditary books for nobles which are not in the Gubernia Nobility
books5.

5
Ср.: Мыш, «Руководство к русск. законам», изд. 3-е, 49—50, 393; «Будущность», 1900, № 4.

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From 1860s Jews who have received medical or other higher university education could be taken
to the civil service. By enrolling in the public service professionals Jews got promoted from the
eighth to tenth grade. Ninth grade brought private nobility, and award the Order of St. Vladimir
of 4th degree (before 1900) or the rank of councilor of state gave the right of hereditary nobility.

According to the All Russia Census of 1897 108 Jews received hereditary nobility estate and
2905 received private nobility estate.

Converts to Christianity the Jews (the so-called "baptized") equated to non-Jews, while the
nobles, the Jews, like their coreligionists in other estates, were struck in their rights as compared
to non-Jewish gentry. Thus, the decision of the Senate in 1898 and 1901 confirmed that the
Jewish nobles did not have, unlike all others, the unconditional right to public office - the path
opened for the Jews only in the presence of higher education.

There are well-known Russian Jewish nobility families: Gunzburg, Efron, Polyakov, etc.

Baron Horace Ginzburg was a devout Jew who strictly observed the prescriptions of religion
and actually ran the vast family affair. Horace Gunzburg helped many people - Jews and
Gentiles. Using his help Jewish students attended the first Russian Conservatory, and famous
sculptor Mark Antokolsky was able to complete the Academy of Fine Arts. He was a founding
member of the Imperial Archaeological Institute, donated money to the establishment of the
Institute of Experimental Medicine, and established the Society of cheap apartments in St.
Petersburg. Horace Gunzburg was in the rank of State Councilor, he was awarded the highest
medals of Russia, and when he died, the representatives of many cities and agencies paid him
the last honors.

Other nobels were "Sugar Kings" Lazarus and Lev Brodsky, Vysotsky, the founder of the
largest firms on the tea trade, Samuel Polyakov who built two thousand five hundred miles of
railway tracks in Russian Empire. All three brothers Polyakov - Samuel, Lazar and Jacob - were
elevated to the nobility, and received the rank of privy councilors.

Ignaz I. Manus, a Jew, was a well-known banker in the Russian Empire. He was born in 1860,
in Bendery, Bessarabia, into a Jewish family. His parents were Middle Class Jews Yosef
(Joseph) Manus - a doctor by profession, and Mani Manus. Ignaz Manus graduated from high
school in Odessa, as Bender had only county real school. Then he was baptized and changed his
name and patronymic in the Ignatius Porfirievich. He worked as a financial agent of the board
of the Samara-Orenburg railway. At the beginning of 1900 he was engaged in speculation on the
stock exchange, acquired a considerable fortune and received a rank of Actual Councilor of state
and as a result was entered into a nobility estate.

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Leo Fayvelevich Friedland (birth name was Moishe Arye-Leib Friedland, 1826, Dinaburg -
1899, St. Petersburg) - Russia's Jewish philanthropist, social activist and collector of Hebrew
books, the actual state councilor, the first guild merchant.

Teytel Yakov Lvovich was born in 1850, in Podolia, neighboring to Bessarabia. He was a
lawyer and public figure – The Actual State Councilor. He received a traditional Jewish
religious education. He graduated from the law faculty of Moscow University in1875. Thanks to
the reforms of the 1860s and 70s Teytel was among the first Jews to get into a public service. In
1877 he was appointed Acting magistrate at the Samara Regional Court (confirmed as of 1880),
where he worked until 1914.

Town, where people registered for an estate

The Russian phrases “Benderskiy Meshchanin” or “Izmailskiy Kupets” refer first to a person
from Bendery at the Middle Class estate, and the other is a Merchant from Izmail. After working
with the records in depth, it appears that such translation is not always accurate. What that
means is that a person of a Middle Class estate was REGISTERED in Bendery, and a Merchant
was REGISTERED in Izmail.

In order to register in a particular estate, there should be a formed society for the Jews in that
estate, and not all towns had such societies. For example in Kaushany all Middle Class Jews
were registered in Bendery until 1850s and that is why were listed in the documents as Bendery
Middle Class. Later when the Middle Class society was organized in Kaushany Jews became
Kaushany Middle Class.

As Jews moved in Bessarabia from town to town and in the whole Pale of Settlement, the town
of designation in most cases did not change. You can find a person in Kaushany - Kishinev
Meshchnin who got married, and lived at least for 5 years as Kishinev Meshchanin. People
lived with the town designation for whole life. For example: Pinya Bruter in Kaushany in the
beginning of 19 century still was Rashkov Meshchanin (Middle Class), even he moved to
Kaushany from Rashkov in 1870s.

How could Jews change their estates, if at all?

Revision Lists note when Jews changed their estate. Basically in this case their names were
removed from one Revision and added to another Revision.

From the statistical information of 1853 in Kaushany over 80 families of Middle Class in town
were granted landholdings by the state, and they were reclassified as farmers. But due to the

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difficult economic conditions, they were permitted to return back in 1864 to the category of
townsmen (middle class). There is a Revision List of 1869 written for that event.

Here are several examples from the Revision List recorsd when the estate was changed.

Revision List of 1869, farmers were reclassified as Middle Class

KOGAN Anshel Moshko Head of Household M 50 Excluded from Farmers, relisted in
Kaushany as Middle Class.
KOGAN Moshko Anshel Son M 23

Revision List, 1854, Romanenko colony, Bendery uezd

AKSMAN Gershko Itsko Head of Household M 36 Farmers. Family was relisted to Middle
Class in Kishinev.
AKSMAN Khaim Gershko Son M 17

KOVSTMAN Duvid Mendel Head of Household M 59 Farmer. On a 10 year privilege from

1853. Relisted in Kishinev in 1858.

Revision List, 1854, Teleneshty, Orgeev uezd

BERNSHTEYN Berko Srul Head of Household M 33 Farmers. By the decree of Chamber of
Commerce relisted as Merchant of
Orgeev
BERNSHTEYN Ikhiel Berko Son M 19

Revision List, 1848, Izmail

BLANK Abram Motil Head of Household M 32 Middle Class. Old Jewish Society. By
Chamber from January 31, 1859
relisted to Kishinev Merchants.
BLANK Mordko Abram Son M 11 Born in 1837

Revision List, Leovo, 1854

KREYMER Alter El Head of Household M 36 Middle Class. By Chamber of
November 13, 1859 relisted into
Kishinev Middle Class
KREYMER Aron Alter Son M 2

Revision List, Khotin, 1859

GROISMAN Blyuma Moshko Head of Household F 34 Merchant. By the Chamber from March
16, 1860 family was relisted to Beltsy
Merchants.

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Conclusion

The paper presents analysis of estates for Jewish people in the 19th century in Bessarabia,
Russia.
The use of the primary sources of information, such as Revision Lists, Family Lists, and Vital
Records is discussed and clarified. Analysis of such data is important to understand Jewish life
of that time.

Bibliography

1) Archival Sources for the Genealogy of Jewish Colonists. In Southern Russia in the 19th
Century, Dmitry Z. Feldman, Avoteynu, 1999 Vol XV Summer

2) Jewish Genealogical Research in Moldova, 2000, Vol XVI Fall by Vlad Soshnikov

3) Vital & Revision Lists records of Bessarabia, 1848, 1854

4) Brochhauz and Efron, Jewish Encyclopedia, 1908-13 http://www.brockhaus-efron-jewish-

encyclopedia.ru/

5) Bessarabia Annual Books-Calendars, The Governor’s Office, 1862-1914

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